- Joined
- 3/4/18
- Messages
- 48
Hi everybody!
It´s been a long time since I posted anything here…but now I feel as though I have to.
Long story slightly short: I could use your help.
Long story slightly longer (including some background information):
In February of 2019 one of my dogs suddenly got very ill, she went from being a completely healthy seven-year-old dog to a dying dog within minutes. All of a sudden, she had a massive seizure that made her foam around the mouth and she was twitching the entire trip to the vet (the taxi arrived after about 30 minutes and the journey to the vet took about the same amount of time). They took some blood etc. and then they rushed her in and put her in a medically induced coma (or whatever its ‘called when the dog is sleeping due to a bunch of drugs).
She was transported (still sleeping and monitored by an animal technician) to a larger animal hospital with more expertise the next day and she remained there for a few days. Her condition was extremely uncertain and I believed I was going to lose my darling. Against all odds they managed to slowly wake her up after she had been a sleep for about 24 hours (every attempt to wake her before that resulted in another severe seizure).
She had to stay in the hospital for a few more days (after waking up) and she had to be in an incubator to get extra oxygen, due to the fact that she had inhaled fluids during the seizures and had gotten a pulmonary edema.
She had trouble walking etc. and needed constant help and supervision for quite some time after she finally was allowed to come home. Thankfully she almost made a full recovery to everybody’s surprise (she has some minor issues with her balance sometimes) but she needed a lot of help initially and she still needs medication four times daily.
My dog required a lot of my time and attention for quite a while after she got home (since she needed help and supervision 24/7) and because of this; I unfortunately didn´t have as much time as I usually have for my parrot. Sadly, my beloved friend (my 11 year old Black headed Caique that is) didn’t cope well with not having me around as much and getting less time outside the cage than usual. I never thought a parrot in my care would ever pluck, but unfortunately due to the circumstances surrounding my dog´s near death experience, my parrot felt the need/urge to self-mutilate.
I´m doing everything I can to make my parrot happy again and to stop this horrible trend. When my bird started plucking, it quickly went from being a few feathers (and me asking myself if my bird was molting or plucking) to a huge pile of feathers on the cage floor and an almost naked bird. It breaks my heart to se my wonderful little friend like this and I sincerely hope that there is something that I can do to make this right, to make my bird happy again and to stop my bird from hurting itself.
If you have any tips regarding how to stop plucking behavior or how to distract my bird from hurting itself, I´m all ears. So far, I´ve (apart from obviously spending more time with my bird, since my dog is feeling better and doesn´t need constant supervision anymore); bought and made a lot of toys to keep my parrot busy, such as foraging toys, shredding toys etc. I´ve also invested in a parrot cookbook to get more inspiration regarding how I can vary my parrots’ veggies etc. more.
Since I first got my parrot (in September of 2018) I´ve been looking for another caique because I believe in having two parrots, due to there extremely social nature. I wanted to get my parrot a friend (obviously I am prepared to have two cages etc. if they don´t get along at all, or doesn´t become as good friends as I hope). Also, there is “kind of a law” in my country specifying that you need to have at least two parrots. They also state that the bird/parrot needs to be of the same family/type/species (it´s therefore not ok to have for example a budgie and a cockatiel together unless they have a budgie and cockatiel friend as well). So, it´s sort of (there are exceptions that I don´t fully agree with) illegal to keep only one bird.
Yesterday, I finally got my second parrot (the first caique living alone that I’ve found, since my first bird). . He (DNA tested male) is a White bellied caique and he´s three years old and absolutely adorable (despite the fact that he bit me the first chance he got, he he). For now, he´s obviously in quarantine (kind of anyway…he´s in another room and I´m doing my best to keep everything separate) but I hope they will become great friends later on.
I´m grateful for any advice you can give me regarding my poor little plucking bird, because my heart breaks every time, I look at my darling friend. This was never supposed to happen…but unfortunately, I can’t change what happened to my dog; or change the fact that my bird got depressed and started plucking. All I can do is try to make it right again and try my best to stop this terrible behavior from being even worse or continuing forever.
Please help. Thank you in advance.
/Animallover_84
It´s been a long time since I posted anything here…but now I feel as though I have to.
Long story slightly short: I could use your help.
Long story slightly longer (including some background information):
In February of 2019 one of my dogs suddenly got very ill, she went from being a completely healthy seven-year-old dog to a dying dog within minutes. All of a sudden, she had a massive seizure that made her foam around the mouth and she was twitching the entire trip to the vet (the taxi arrived after about 30 minutes and the journey to the vet took about the same amount of time). They took some blood etc. and then they rushed her in and put her in a medically induced coma (or whatever its ‘called when the dog is sleeping due to a bunch of drugs).
She was transported (still sleeping and monitored by an animal technician) to a larger animal hospital with more expertise the next day and she remained there for a few days. Her condition was extremely uncertain and I believed I was going to lose my darling. Against all odds they managed to slowly wake her up after she had been a sleep for about 24 hours (every attempt to wake her before that resulted in another severe seizure).
She had to stay in the hospital for a few more days (after waking up) and she had to be in an incubator to get extra oxygen, due to the fact that she had inhaled fluids during the seizures and had gotten a pulmonary edema.
She had trouble walking etc. and needed constant help and supervision for quite some time after she finally was allowed to come home. Thankfully she almost made a full recovery to everybody’s surprise (she has some minor issues with her balance sometimes) but she needed a lot of help initially and she still needs medication four times daily.
My dog required a lot of my time and attention for quite a while after she got home (since she needed help and supervision 24/7) and because of this; I unfortunately didn´t have as much time as I usually have for my parrot. Sadly, my beloved friend (my 11 year old Black headed Caique that is) didn’t cope well with not having me around as much and getting less time outside the cage than usual. I never thought a parrot in my care would ever pluck, but unfortunately due to the circumstances surrounding my dog´s near death experience, my parrot felt the need/urge to self-mutilate.
I´m doing everything I can to make my parrot happy again and to stop this horrible trend. When my bird started plucking, it quickly went from being a few feathers (and me asking myself if my bird was molting or plucking) to a huge pile of feathers on the cage floor and an almost naked bird. It breaks my heart to se my wonderful little friend like this and I sincerely hope that there is something that I can do to make this right, to make my bird happy again and to stop my bird from hurting itself.
If you have any tips regarding how to stop plucking behavior or how to distract my bird from hurting itself, I´m all ears. So far, I´ve (apart from obviously spending more time with my bird, since my dog is feeling better and doesn´t need constant supervision anymore); bought and made a lot of toys to keep my parrot busy, such as foraging toys, shredding toys etc. I´ve also invested in a parrot cookbook to get more inspiration regarding how I can vary my parrots’ veggies etc. more.
Since I first got my parrot (in September of 2018) I´ve been looking for another caique because I believe in having two parrots, due to there extremely social nature. I wanted to get my parrot a friend (obviously I am prepared to have two cages etc. if they don´t get along at all, or doesn´t become as good friends as I hope). Also, there is “kind of a law” in my country specifying that you need to have at least two parrots. They also state that the bird/parrot needs to be of the same family/type/species (it´s therefore not ok to have for example a budgie and a cockatiel together unless they have a budgie and cockatiel friend as well). So, it´s sort of (there are exceptions that I don´t fully agree with) illegal to keep only one bird.
Yesterday, I finally got my second parrot (the first caique living alone that I’ve found, since my first bird). . He (DNA tested male) is a White bellied caique and he´s three years old and absolutely adorable (despite the fact that he bit me the first chance he got, he he). For now, he´s obviously in quarantine (kind of anyway…he´s in another room and I´m doing my best to keep everything separate) but I hope they will become great friends later on.
I´m grateful for any advice you can give me regarding my poor little plucking bird, because my heart breaks every time, I look at my darling friend. This was never supposed to happen…but unfortunately, I can’t change what happened to my dog; or change the fact that my bird got depressed and started plucking. All I can do is try to make it right again and try my best to stop this terrible behavior from being even worse or continuing forever.
Please help. Thank you in advance.
/Animallover_84
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? Plus, I´m as sure as you possibly could be that this is my fault, my “neglect” (during a very stressful and difficult time for me) while caring for my dog, that led my bird to do this to itself. I´m to blame for this terrible scenario and that´s unbearable. My poor little (nearly) feathered friend
…
